Getty Images; Buckingham Palace
Actor and entrepreneur Blake Lively said he was “mortified” by his joke about Kate Middleton's “Photoshop fail” – prompting an apology after the Princess of Wales confirmed on Friday that she had undergone cancer treatment.
“I hope no one cares today, but I feel like I have to admit this,” Lively said in a message shared on her Instagram account Friday. “I made a funny post around the 'photoshop fails' craze and alas, that post offended me today. I'm sorry. Sending love and best wishes to everyone always.”
On March 15, Lively posted a humorously edited photo promoting her line of Betty Booze drinks, showing her sitting with a can of Betty Booze, a lemonade floating above her head with an outstretched thumb. In The Instagram post has since been deleted, Lively wrote, “So excited to share this new photo I took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I've been MIA.
It was a reference to visual inconsistencies in a photo released March 10 by the royal family depicting Middleton and her three children, prompting the AP and other news organizations to pull the image from their services. Middleton later admitted, “Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing.” The controversy led to speculation about Middleton's long absence from the public eye. Amid conspiracy theories about the princess' whereabouts, celebrities including Jimmy Kimmel and Jamie Lee Curtis called on people to respect Middleton's privacy.
In a video statement released Friday, Middleton said her cancer was diagnosed following abdominal surgery and that she is now in the “early phase” of preventive chemotherapy. “It's been an incredibly difficult couple of months for our entire family, but I have an amazing medical team that has taken such great care of me, and I'm so grateful for that,” Middleton said in the video.
Here's Lively's apology, which she posted on Instagram Stories:
